


Exception

by Starship21ZedNA9



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 11:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16387088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starship21ZedNA9/pseuds/Starship21ZedNA9
Summary: After Charlie and Dennis both flee their respective apartments, they end up finding each other at the bar.  Just a short kind of angsty/kind of fluffy one shot.





	Exception

Charlie didn't like people touching him. He kept playing that fact in his head over and over again as he dropped his sleeping back on the sticky floor of Paddy's Pub. He casually knocked the tables over to make more space. He kicked the stools to the side, paying no mind to the crash they made and how a few of them broke on impact. He spread the sleeping bag out in the bare center, chaos of wood and peanut shells surrounding him. He grabbed the ball of boiled denim from on top of the bar along with a Coors. Using the stiff, still hot denim as a pillow, he laid down and chugged his beer. Charlie didn't bother to wipe his mouth as it spilled down his face to the back of his neck. Once empty, he hurled the empty bottle to the side and broken glass joined with splintered wood on the floor. 

He was shivering with rage. He shook his head violently to try and forget the feeling of skin on skin. All those people grabbing at him. Pulling at his clothes. Trying to hold him down and yank him back. He could hear their smoker's cackle in his ears still. He sprawled out as far as he could, reminding himself that he was free and untouched. His heart felt like it was going to pound right out of his chest. He tried to ignore his thoughts and continue with his nightly ritual.

He next went for the cat food in his jacket pocket. Realizing he was absent a knife, he started biting at the sealed lid. It kept slipping out of his mouth and he gripped it harder. "Goddammit," he growled as it jumped from his grasp. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" Charlie kicked his legs until they were tangled in the sleeping bag. He stumbled over himself, retrieving the saliva soaked can. He shoved it as far into his mouth as he could and bit down with all the force he could muster.

"Charlie?"

Charlie froze and looked up to see Dennis in the doorway, staring at him with that curious and bemused expression that he always wore when he thought Charlie was doing something weird. Dennis had a blanket and a pillow tucked under his arm. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were red. Charlie looked around at the wrecked bar and slowly pulled the tin out of his mouth. 

"Oh," he said, delighted that his teeth had managed to pierce a couple of small holes in the top.

"What are you doing, buddy?"

"Oh, dude. Frank came home with these three girls, right? And I was starfishing on the bed and they all like fall on top of me and they're humping and making noises and I'm like 'get off me! That's gross!' And then the ladies kept trying to grab me and do sex to me! And I tried to get to the crevice but they were like all over me, dude! And I don't like people touching me! They kept touching me and shit and they wouldn't stop and there were hands everywhere-!"

He hadn't even heard Dennis crossing the room to him. Suddenly there he was, sitting next to him with his hands kneading Charlie's tense shoulders.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. It's all right, buddy. It'll be all right. Huh? Just, you know, breathe for me, okay?"

Charlie's breathing started to slow and his shoulders drooped under Dennis's sure hands. "Hmmm, yeah. Okay. Yeah," he mumbled.

"All right," Dennis clapped him on the back and dropped his hands to his bundle and began unfolding the blanket he had. Calmer now, Charlie turned his attention back to the cat food in his hand. He tried digging his fingers into the holes to widen them. The sharp edges knicked his fingers but he didn't so much as flinch.

"Dude, you're getting blood all over."

"Ah, it's okay. Because I'm gonna eat it and the blood was already in me so I'm really just putting it back where it came from," he explained. Finally, the lid yanked free and Charlie scooped out its contents with his hand and shoved it all in his mouth.

"God, that is goddamn disgusting, Charlie." Dennis was fluffing his pillow and trying not to look at him.

"What are you doing here, dude," Charlie asked through a mouthful of cat food.

"I just got sick of sharing the bed with Dee, Mac, and Old Black Man. First of all, Dee's snores are massively irritating and loud. It is like sleeping next to a chainsaw. It's unbearable, frankly. Old Black Man farts all through the night. I don't know what he eats during the day but it has to stop. If I have to keep him locked up in the bathroom all day, then so be it. And Mac...Mac keeps trying to hump me in his sleep. Yeah, he keeps rolling over Dee to get to me and I'm suspecting that he's not actually asleep. So, I thought I'd just come here."

"That's cool," Charlie said absently. He'd stopped listening almost immediately. He tossed the empty tin aside. He had wanted to be alone. He wanted to forget the feeling of all of those foreign hands running over his body. He could leave. He could shout at Dennis and see if he left instead. He wouldn't, of course. Dennis never backed down against Charlie. Dennis may have looked at Charlie like he was insane but never like he was a threat. And maybe that was okay tonight. He could still be alone with Dennis there. Most of the time.

"You know, you could have just slid this shit out of the way. You didn't have to trash the place. You're just gonna have to clean it up tomorrow."

Charlie waved him off and laid back down. He wiped his hand on his t-shirt. The ball of denim had started to separate and Charlie could feel his head slowly sinking closer to the floor. Charlie turned to face away from Dennis and shut his eyes. He heard Dennis settle down next to him. Dennis spread his blanket over himself.

"Hey, man. You want any of this?"

"No. Yeah. I don't care!"

Charlie grabbed the edge of the blanket and yanked it over himself, sending Dennis crashing into him. Charlie tensed up for a moment at feeling another person so close to him. He fought the urge to shove him off. Alone with Dennis. That was okay. Dennis's face was pressed against Charlie's back. He inhaled deeply.

"Jesus, have you been crawling around in the sewer again? You smell like shit."

"I had to get some denim! Frank was using all the pillows. Dude, you don't even want to know what for."

"You're right. I don't," he started to sound distant.

Dennis rolled back over. The absence of a warm body made Charlie grunt in protest. He turned over to look at Dennis, who was staring at the ceiling like it was something he could intimidate...or seduce. Charlie looked up as well, but saw nothing special. Same stained tiles that had always been there.

"I can't sleep." Dennis's voice took on that horrible flat affect that meant he was drifting away from the world.

"I think I got some more cat food if you want."

"No, Charlie, goddammit. No. I am not eating cat food. Goddamn."

Charlie reached out a finger and poked him in the side. Dennis shot him an irritated look and poked him back.

"Dude, you're like, you feel like a statue or something. Like a rock. You're like super hard."

"Yes, you know why that is? The reason is twofold. One, I work very hard to acheive this perfectly chiseled god you see before you. Two, I am unable to relax."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I don't think my body has been fully relaxed since high school." He paused and almost smiled. "Remember when we used to all sleep over at Mac's?"

Charlie remembered. He remembered Dennis being calm on those nights. He remembered having his body pliable in his hands. Completely trusting Charlie to make him feel good. It hadn't happened often. Just sometimes, when they'd both spend the night with Mac and the other boy would either knock himself out trying to show off his karate skills or pass out due to all the glue they were sniffing. 

Then, and only then, Charlie and Dennis would get close to each other. Charlie would take a swig from a beer and Dennis would focus his gaze and smile at him. Charlie crawled up into his lap and touched their foreheads together. Dennis placed his hands on either side of Charlie's face. And Charlie kissed him and turned him into putty. With Mac out cold and his mom not giving a shit, they could kiss and hold each other as long as they wanted.

Strange. In all the years gone by since then, Charlie couldn't remember Dennis being this tense. There had been casual touches. And arm around his shoulder. A pat on his leg. Dennis had never felt frozen to him like he did now.

"Well, you gotta try to relax, okay? Like, I can't sleep next to somebody who's all stiff like that." Dennis didn't move. Didn't twitch. His eyes were going dull in the way that Charlie hated.

Charlie turned back over, facing the wall. "You know, you don't have to be tense right now. It's only me here. It's fine to calm down."

He waited for a response. It didn't come. Dennis stayed quiet. Charlie laid in the heavy silence until his eyes started to close. He was almost asleep when an arm snaked over his waist. He jumped but Dennis held him fast. He felt Dennis slide up behind him until they were flush against each other.

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

"Shhh."

Dennis's voice was in his ear, sending a shiver through him. He felt firm lips on the back of his neck. They lingered there, teasing him, breathing warmth onto his skin. Dennis slowly dropped kisses down his neck and to his shoulder. The hand on his chest was making lazy circles there. It wasn't possible to press closer together, but Charlie tried anyway. He backed up and wiggled as close to Dennis as he could. He was dizzy with sensation. His heart was beating fast for the second time that night. But, it wasn't like before. These weren't stranger's hands. This was Dennis. This was comfort. Charlie squeaked as Dennis nipped at him. Dennis gave a soft laugh against him. He used his free hand to run through Charlie's untamed hair.

Charlie keened and whimpered and leaned his head into the touch. He placed his hand over the one running across his chest. They laced their fingers together. Dennis moaning in Charlie's ear.

"That feel better," Charlie murmered. "You're feeling a little softer now."

Dennis nodded. He was still tense but loosening up. Not good enough or fast enough for Charlie's liking though. Charlie ran his thumb over Dennis' knuckles and twisted his head around so that he could see his face. Dennis still had a kind of dead look in his eyes and he was looking beyond Charlie into nothing.

"Hey. Hey, man. Dennis."

Dennis turned his eyes toward Charlie. Charlie squeezed the hand he was holding in an attempt to keep Dennis tethered to him, to pull him back in. Before he could stop himself, he grabbed the back of his neck with his other hand and kissed him. It was rough and sloppy and nothing that could be mistaken for romantic, but it had the desired effect. When he pulled back, Dennis's eyes softened and cleared. He looked at Charlie like he was actually seeing him again.

Dennis leaned in for another kiss. A much softer kiss. The kind of softness he didn't often associate with Dennis. He bumped his nose with Charlie's. Charlie turned all the way around until he was face to face with Dennis. The wrapped their arms around each other. The taller man took a deep, deliberate breath and let it out slowly. Charlie felt him melt into him. He buried his head in Charlie's chest.

"Thanks, Charlie."

"That's cool. You feel kind of like a noodle now," he said over the top of Dennis's head.

"Hmm. Jesus, I didn't realize how tired I was."

Charlie rubbed Dennis's back and lifted his chin until it was resting on top of the other man's head. He felt tired too. Not wound up and scared like he had been when he'd escaped his apartment hours earlier. Not angry and resentful like he had been when he'd first got to the bar. He felt safe now. He felt protected.

"Go to sleep. It's fine. It's just us."

Dennis was already snoring. His arms were slack around Charlie. The beer and cat food was kicking in. Or maybe it was all the presence of his friend. Charlie didn't care. He was happy that, even now, he could still get Dennis vulnerable and trusting like this. He was happy to have him in his arms tonight. It was true that Charlie didn't like anybody touching him. But, Dennis wasn't just anybody. Dennis was an exception.


End file.
